Mohamed Omar al-Khatib

Journalist Arrested by the Syrian authorities, on 8 January 2012Died in detention in May 2014

Born in 1980, Mohamed Omar al-Khatib graduated from Damascus University’s journalism faculty and, before the 2011 uprising, worked for the business sections of various newspapers.

He began working for the Moadamiya Media Office in 2011 and was arrested on 8 January 2012 by intelligence officers, who shot him in the legs. His arrest was partly the result of his having met the head of the Arab League observation mission and briefing him about the Assad regime’s human rights violations against civilians. After being taken to Sednaiya military prison, he was given a 15-year jail sentence.

On 27 June 2014, more than two years after his arrest, his family received a letter containing his ID documents and notifying them of his death. The family has yet to be given his body. According to information obtained from sources, he died under torture 45 days before the letter was received.